1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device carrier unit for housing a bare chip in a detachable manner and a semiconductor socket provided therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
A test jig used for a burn-in test is generally called as an IC socket. In the IC socket for testing a KGD (known good die) which is a tested good bare chip, the proposition that such a bare chip is mounted to a housing portion in the IC socket via a carrier unit as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-149289 has been put forth.
For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the carrier unit includes, for example, a carrier housing 2 having a housing portion 2A for housing a single bare chip (not shown), a sheet with electrodes 6 disposed as a connecting substrate in the inner bottom of the housing portion 2A of the carrier housing 2 via an elastic sheet 4, a pressing cap 14 for pressing a group of electrodes of the bare chip to bumps 6B of the sheet with electrodes 6, and a latch mechanism 10 for selectively holding the pressing cap 14 in the carrier housing 2.
As shown in FIG. 13, the sheet with electrodes 6 has a bump group consisting of a plurality of bumps 6B formed of copper or others disposed opposite to the electrode group of the bare chip (not shown). A tip end of the respective bump 6B is projected from a surface of the sheet with electrodes 6 at a predetermined height. In this regard, in FIG. 13, only two of the bumps 6B in the bump group are exaggeratedly represented as for simplifying the drawing.
The pressing cap 14 includes a pressure body 16 having a pressing portion 16s in contact with a surface (upper surface) opposed to a surface on which the electrode group of the bare chip are formed (a lower surface), a cap body 20 having a recess for housing a base of the pressure body 16, and a spring 18 disposed in a space between the base of the pressure body 16 and an inner surface defining the recess of the cap body 20 for biasing the pressure body 16 toward the bare chip.
The base of the pressure body 16 has a flange on the outer periphery thereof and is inserted in the recess of the cap body 20 in a movable manner. The cap body 20 is provided on opposite outer surfaces thereof with hook members 10FA and 10FB, respectively, of the latch mechanism 10 in a rotational movable manner.
The latch mechanism 10 includes the above-mentioned hook members 10FA and 10FB, nibs 2N provided on the outer periphery of the carrier housing 2 in correspondence to the hook members 10FA, 10FB, and torsion coil springs (not shown) for biasing the hook members 10FA, 10FB in the direction of being engaged with the nibs 2N.
Accordingly, when the bare chip is tested, upon disposing the pressing cap 14 on the bare chip located in advance relative to the bumps 6B of the sheet with electrodes 6, the pressure body 16 of the pressing cap 14 is housed in the housing portion 2A so that tip ends of the hook members 10FA, 10FB of the cap body 20 in the pressing cap 14 are rotated away from each other.
When the pressing cap 14 is mounted into the housing portion 2A of the carrier housing 2, the cap body 20 is mounted into the housing portion 2A of the carrier housing 2 while the outer periphery thereof is guided by a wall defining the housing portion 2A provided in the carrier housing 2. Thereafter, the tip ends of the hook members 10FA, 10FB of the latch mechanism 10 are rotated by the bias of the torsion coil springs in the direction of being closer to each other and engage with the nibs 2N. As a result, the pressing cap 14 is held on the carrier housing 2 in a state wherein the bare chip is pressed by the pressing portions 16s of the pressure body 16.